Posted on 09/09/2015 11:51:57 PM PDT by nickcarraway
There are no words...
750 not enough
Speaking as someone who essentially lost eight years being sick and indoors, I can’t IMAGINE losing this many years.
I still can’t accept that the people at my old job are still there without me, that my friends’ children are now young adults, etc.
God has been kind and helped me heal, and eight years is what it is. But 30 YEARS!!!
makes me thankful.
They still don’t have good lawyers to take that pittance.
Not even a million? That’s not compensation.
“750 not enough”
This is a case where actual retribution against the judicial “system” and the individuals who did this evidently knowingly to these men needs to be taken. Money alone cannot buy these men back their lives. Those involved need to go to jail for the rest of their lives, and the money needs to be at least ten-fold the amount they’ve been given.
While I am sympathetic to them for the troubles they had in prison, and the fact that they shouldn’t have been there in the first place, there is no way either of them would have that much money in the bank if they hadn’t gone.
I could only see the utility for punitive awards if the government intentionally got them convicted, but I don’t know enough about this case to say that.
It is sickeningly sad. Not a surprise that at least one of them remains permanent state of mental disturbance.
The best thing they could try doing with some of the money is to rent a small home and hire a few professional people to care for them. Have the local regional system plan some integration activities in the community. Approach these things slowly.
Yes indeed.
Of all the things I don’t want to happen to me, this is up there near the top.
“there is no way either of them would have that much money in the bank if they hadn’t gone.”
C’mon man there is no way anyone can know that.
McCollum is my age, he went to Prison at 19, the other guy at 15.
Chances are yes they would have been blue collar workers in Robeson Co., but they would have earned much more than this collectively.
Who’s to say one of these guys couldn’t have invented the better mouse trap, or farm implement, or in the case of the 15 year old played professional sports. Michael Jordan grew up about 70 miles from these guys.
I certainly hope your assumption of these men’s future is not based on the color of their skin.
Ask Ben Carson about that.
I don’t care what state law says, they should get more than that. That is a lifetime.
How much of that 750K is eaten up by taxes?
Probably the amount left after taxes will go to lawyer fees.
Then the democratic party and unions will have to have their share
Not necessarily so. I know plenty of people who worked 25 to 30 years, socking away money in deferred tax programs that became worth over a million (and in conservative not high-risk investments). And you don't need to be a white collar worker to do it.
If I was in charge, it’d be 31 years times the average annual salary - which looking at this probably is reasonably close to what they’ve been given, but I’d also continue them getting that each year until they reach 65 to reflect the fact that their current earning potential is likely much less than it otherwise might have been (unless, of course, they sell their story or make money off it that way which I think they’d be perfectly entitled to do if they can). They’d never have to work again and would have a reasonably comfortable life even if they didn’t. But they’d also be free to work if they can.
Is it enough? No - but I’m not sure any amount of monetary compensation can be enough, so that’s not the measure I’d use.
Not saying this is the right solution - I just like to think about what I’d do if I was in charge.
It does not seem like enough money to me either. One thing I will say, though, is there should be a monetary difference between honest mistakes and malicious wrongs.
The money is absurdly low.
More importantly, the prosecutor should be tossed into jail for life.
While most likely neither of them would have earned an average of $24,000 a year over the last 31 years, $750,000 is simply not enough compensatation for mistakenly/unjustly depriving a person of his freedoms for that length of time.
Probably none. Financial awards from “the government” are usually tax-exempt.
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